AS the popularity of social media sleuths rises, Callum Fahim – who tried to solve the Jay Slater and Nicola Bulley cases – reveals why he does it
It was just a few weeks after Catherine O’Sullivan’s 22-year-old son Jack went missing that she received her first message via social media from an amateur sleuth.
“I know where he is. I know where he’s buried.
“I know who killed him,” it read.
“Jack wasn’t actually missing on the date this person mentioned, so I knew straight away it was false,” says Catherine, 52.
“But it could have been really traumatic, if it wasn’t so obvious they knew nothing.”
Missing since March, after a night out in Bristol with friends, Jack’s case has attracted the attention of online sleuths clamouring to share theories and “solve” the mystery of his unexplained disappearance.
And Catherine’s experience is far from unique.
In fact, increasingly, high-profile missing person cases are proving magnets for complete strangers.
When mum-of-two Nicola Bulley, 45, went missing in January 2023 – the only trace of her was a mobile phone found abandoned on a riverside bench and her pet spaniel running loose – social-media sleuths descended on St Michael’s on Wyre, the sleepy village in Lancashire where she was from.
Police were forced to disperse influencers who were taking photos and videos at the scene.
TikTok buzzed with videos posted by armchair detectives spouting theories about what had happened, while others searched woodland and abandoned buildings, their smartphones recording their hunt.
More recently, when Jay Slater, 19, went missing on holiday in Tenerife in June, not only was social media awash with users talking about the case, but numerous sleuths also boarded flights to the island to get involved in the hunt for him, before the Spanish Civil Guard discovered his body in a ravine last month.
Even after this, sleuths persevered, attempting to access details from the autopsy that had not been released by authorities.
With more than 32,000 followers, TikTok user Callum Fahim, from London, is one of those who travelled to Tenerife to help search.
“I didn’t know Jay, but I reached out to the family and made connections with people on the island who lived there, and we all came together and searched,” he says.
“We made the police aware, but they didn’t want us to get involved.”
Keen hiker Callum searched the remote area where Jay was last known to be, hiking in searing heat for any clue as to the apprentice bricklayer’s whereabouts.
The search was in vain, and Jay’s body was discovered days after Callum returned to the UK.
Jay is not the first missing person that Callum has tried to find. “I’m interested in cases that are hard to solve.
“I’m no criminologist or specialist, just a normal person.
“I’ve done online research into Madeleine McCann and I went to where Nicola Bulley went missing too, to search,” he says.
There are many who believe people like Callum should stay away and leave it to the professionals, but he insists he can add something worthwhile.
I didn’t know Jay, but I reached out to the family and made connections with people on the island who lived there
Callum Fahim
“I’ve only ever offered help in areas I know I can give 100% to, such as planning, map reading and hiking – I’ve never once claimed to be able to do anything else.
“If me trying to find a missing person was going to hinder any kind of criminal investigation, of course I’d stay away.
“I would never, ever, ever do anything to jeopardise bringing somebody back to safety.”
Psychologist Emma Kenny says the majority of people who turn up to help have, like Callum, good intentions.
“For the most part, people do it because it comes from a place of social responsibility.
“I think people genuinely believe that if they’re there, there’s a greater opportunity to find the missing individual.
“Some people also do it because they have a distrust of authorities – they believe they don’t care in the diligent way that they will.”
Emma warns that not all sleuths have the best of intentions, though.
“Some people do it to promote themselves, for clickbait and to gain followers,” she says.
I would never, ever, ever do anything to jeopardise bringing somebody back to safety
Callum Fahim
Callum says in recent weeks he has been contacted by other families of missing persons.
“A lot of people have reached out to me.
“It’s heart-wrenching, but I’ll keep doing what I do, trying to help with cases where I feel I can offer something.
“In the past, I’ve both self-funded and been given money by families who want me to help.
“I’m not trying to be like some other TikTok users, where they’re trying to get famous.
“If I can help one person, I’m happy.”
But former murder detective David Swindle says social-media sleuths can be incredibly damaging to police investigations.
“Being involved in high-profile major crime and missing person investigations, I’ve always been concerned about unqualified so-called experts approaching families and making public statements about ongoing investigations.
“Families desperate for answers are vulnerable and so will try to use whatever help they can get.
“Unfortunately, that ‘expert’ help may not always be credible.
“People who generate social-media content to push their own theories in cases like Nicola Bulley and Jay Slater can be obstructive for ongoing investigations.
“I’m an advocate of using social media and podcasts – however, that needs to be carefully managed to ensure nothing obstructs police work.”
For some families caught up in the nightmare of a missing loved one, any assistance is welcome.
At the time of going to press, Catherine’s son Jack, a history and law graduate, now 23, hadn’t been seen since March 2 after leaving a house party.
Police have said his phone remained active on the Find My Friends app until 6.44am, but there has been no trace of him, to the distress of his family, who lodged a formal complaint against Avon And Somerset police in June over its handling of the case.
Since his disappearance, a Facebook community called “Find Jack” has been set up by Catherine’s family and now has nearly 40,000 members.
While she has received some upsetting messages, overall she’s been grateful to the online community.
“I get people contacting me daily saying they’re doing their own searches, walking the route, going out at different times at night, really putting themselves out there to help us.”
As the search for Jack continues, Emma cautions that some sleuths will approach cases without good intentions.
“There are self-serving social-media users out there, including those who are narcissistic and even psychopathic.
“It’s all about them and they don’t think about the consequences of their actions.
“They want to be at the centre, and the most important person, in a story.
“Those are the dangerous ones.”
